


For My Limbs to Fathom

by starcrossedgirl



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Double Drabble, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-28
Updated: 2012-01-28
Packaged: 2017-10-30 06:17:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/328692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starcrossedgirl/pseuds/starcrossedgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For andinocara's prompt: shadow/reflection/water</p>
            </blockquote>





	For My Limbs to Fathom

Severus is only doing the boy a favour.

After all, Narcissus fell into the pond, and Potter seems eager to follow. Already, his shadow has grown too wide and too long; it swallows adults and students alike, devours them whole.

They call Severus cruel. It’s par for the course from the children, easy to bear. Children are wont to attack and protest what they consider unjust, then change their minds mere days later. But sometimes, when Minerva’s lips compress tightly, when Flitwick tuts and Dumbledore sighs, the doubt flickers in, and Potter’s shadow creeps over him, with a subtlety the boy will never possess. 

Then Severus sees how they raise him and feed him, how they stoke his reflection, and he remembers the truth. For when Potter meets the water, there won’t be a ripple, a splash, no -- the water will rise from the lake in a wave, will form a tsunami to vanquish the land. Severus has seen how it happens, has caused it; he erected a pedestal, once, polished somebody’s mirror, before. He won’t make the same mistake twice. 

His job is to keep Potter from drowning. His job is to keep Potter from drowning them all.


End file.
